Video game movie franchises have struggled to escape from the home console market to the big screen. Even popular game series haven’t found a theatrical audience. So, for some reason, someone has decided to throw money at an adaptation of the simple 1986 Arcade game, Rampage.
The game is very straight-forward. You choose between one of three giant monsters: An ape named George, A dinosaur named Lizzie, and a wolf named Ralph. You try and get the high score by climbing and punching buildings. If you eat a lady in the shower, you get extra points. That’s pretty much the extent.
In the movie, Primatologist Davis Okoye (The Rock) shares an unshakable bond with George, the extraordinarily intelligent gorilla who has been in his care since birth. But a rogue genetic experiment gone awry transforms this gentle ape into a raging monster. But George isn’t alone. He’s joined by a crocosaurus and a giant flying wolf.
As these monsters tear across North America, destroying everything in their path, Okoye teams with a discredited genetic engineer (Naomie Harris) to secure an antidote, fighting his way through an ever-changing battlefield, not only to halt a global catastrophe, but to save the fearsome creature that was once his friend.
I never thought I’d witness something something more ridiculous than The Rock kicking a torpedo (In Fate of the Furious), but somehow seeing him use sign language with a giant CG ape takes the cake.
Rampage has all the right ingredients to be a campy balls-to-the-wall hilarious blockbuster. Yet, somehow it still ruins the recipe.
Director Brad Peyton (Journey 2, San Andreas, Cats and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore) clearly loves working with The Rock, but doesn’t know how to handle his charisma. The recent Jumanji movie showcased The Rock at his best. It was an action comedy that allowed him to play against type, but still ooze charisma. In Rampage, The Rock is treated as more of a straight action hero against stakes that, we’re led to believe, really matter.
The tone of Rampage is completely off. These giant monsters are all striving to destroy a single building in the middle of Chicago, because who knows why. There are corporate villains that I’m not sure are meant to be cartoonish or actually greedy and evil. Late into the movie, The Rock actually throws out some one-liners and it took me by surprise because it didn’t fit the movie at all. In fact, the final act is the only time where the movie almost becomes the so-bad-it’s-good flick it should have been. Yet, even then, there are shades of a 9-11 tribute that feel wildly irreverent in a movie about giant apes, lizards and wolves.
If nothing else, Rampage gives the audience a preview of what the forthcoming Godzilla vs King Kong movie will look like. Though, hopefully it looks slightly more realistic.
I wish the creators of Rampage could have been in on the joke that the audience was expecting. This had the potential to be the best guilty pleasure Rock movie. Instead, it’s one of his weakest cinematic efforts. Rampage finds some fun in the end, but by then, it’s too late. D+
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